The Pleasant Valley Sparkles were the guests of honor at this year’s Happy Joe’s Kids Foundation Luncheon on November 17th! During the event, nearly 300 guests were invited to purchase items from vendors, enjoy lunch, and listen to featured speaker Linda Mullen, the Executive Director of the Sparkles. Following Mullen’s speech, the PV Sparkles took stage and cheered, and were then presented with a surprise Lifetime Grant from the Happy Joe’s Kids Foundation. This grant can be used in any the growing cheer squad sees fit.

The Happy Joe’s Kids Foundation is a foundation that raises money and awareness for special needs, and uses that money to support local programs, like the Sparkles, that promote inclusivity and mindfulness.

Thank you, Happy Joe’s, for loving the PV Sparkles as much as we do, and for your continual support of this organization!

On November 10th and 11th, six PVHS mathematics students travelled to the Harvard-MIT Math Tournament! Along with other over 800 other mathematically gifted students, the PV math team participated in different individual and team math challenges that were written by MIT and Harvard undergraduates. Each round was designed to test and engage the teams, as well as encourage new bonds and friendships to be made beyond the students’ home school teams. Spartan Nation is proud to support the bright students in our math program as they excel!

Spartan Nation is proud to have another state title from the XC team! The immense PV running talent was showcased on October 28th in Fort Dodge at the State Cross Country meet. After an intense race in the chilly weather, the Pleasant Valley Boys Cross Country avenged their performance from last year by winning the state title. Falling to Dowling Catholic by only two points during last year’s state meet, the runners came in to the race more motivated than ever to come out on top.

This championship is the first for the Boy’s XC since 2008, and the fourth title for the program. They claimed 61 points during the race, with five runners finishing in the top 20. Konnor Sommer came in fourth place, followed by Anthony Pena at ninth, Gavin Smith at 11th, Ian Kaffenberger at 18th, and Parker Huhn at 20th.

Students across the Quad Cities are competing in this year’s Student Hunger Drive. Pleasant Valley’s Spartan Assembly heads up the district’s efforts. You can donate in several ways and at several events until November 8, 2017. Follow @SpartanAssembly on twitter for the latest. Below is a list of events organized by Spartan Assembly that district students, families, and friends of PVCSD are welcome to attend. In addition, we would love support from local businesses. For more information about business donation opportunities, please contact Emma Horsfield at horsfieldemma12@gmail.com.

Why: 1 in 5 children in our area and 1 in 8 adults are missing meals, not by choice, due to not having enough food. The River Bend Foodbank collects and then distributes food to more than 300 charitable organizations in the surrounding area. This amounts to millions of meals each year. The Student Hunger Drive (SHD) helps the River Bend Foodbank to stock their shelves each fall. The foodbank also has other programs – mobile food pantry sites 10 to 15 times a month, backpack programs that provide children with food to take home over the weekend, food pantries in hospitals, and senior programs – that focus on reducing the number of people who are food insecure.

How: Spartan Assembly, the student council group at PVHS, coordinates and carries several different events to support the SHD. Elementary schools in our district and the junior high are also encouraged to plan events geared toward raising both food and funds.

DONATE ONLINE: Donations can be made on River Bend Foodbank website. On the Donate page https://riverbendfoodbank.org/donate-money/ there is a box titled “In Memorial/In Honor of”. This is where your donors will want to type” Pleasant Valley Student Hunger Drive”, in order to keep track of any donations that are made in the name of PVHS. These will be converted to 1.5 pounds for every dollar donated.

Wednesday, Oct 11th from 3:00-9:00pm – Your Pie Davenport Pizza Restaurant Fundraiser: Enjoy a night out for dinner and support SHD! Show this flyer to the cashier (printed or on your phone) and 15% of your bill will be donated to the cause! Your Pie is located at 4520 E 53rd St in Davenport.

Thursday, October 12th @ 7:00pm – Improv Night: Come to the high school and enjoy a night of improvisation! There will be a chance to support Hunger Drive during the show, so bring some extra cash!

Tuesday, October 17th from 4:00-8:00pm – Panera Restaurant Fundraiser: Enjoy a night out for dinner and support SHD! Show a printout of this flyer to the cashier when you order and a portion of your bill will be donated to the cause! Panera is located at 414 West Kimberly Road in Davenport.

Friday, October 20th from 3:30-5:00pm – LulaRoe Fundraiser: Come one, come all to purchase some cute, comfortable clothes and support Student Hunger Drive at the same time. At least one LulaRoe consultant will be set up in the PVHS library for you to shop and a generous portion of each item’s cost will be donated back to support SHD! If you’re not able to attend, there will be an online Facebook party that you can purchase from over the weekend. Emaiil Megan Dixon at dixonmegan@pleasval.k12.ia.us for more information.

Saturday, October 21st from 11:00am – 1:00pm – Powderpuff Football @ Spartan Stadium: Head over to the football field at the high school to witness some amazing flag football skills! Students will form teams and play for the chance to be crowned the queens of Powderpuff! Registration forms are due to Mrs. Dixon by October 16th.

Monday, October 23rd from 7:00 – 9:00pm – Reverse Powderpuff Volleyball in the ABC gym: Come out to support your favorite boys’ volleyball team on their quest to be #1! Registration forms are due to Mrs. Dixon by October 16th.

Wednesday, October 25th from 3:00 – 9:00pm – Pancheros Restaurant Fundraiser: Enjoy a night out for dinner and support SHD! Show this flyer to the cashier (printed or on your phone) and 15% of your bill will be donated to the cause! Pancheros is located at 4888 Utica Ridge in Davenport.

Friday, October 27th from 1:00 – 3:30pm – PV Drama presents Haunted Theater @ PVHS theater: Enjoy your day off of school and some spooky fun with you friends. Tickets are $3 or get a $1 off if you bring a donation for Hunger Drive!

Saturday, October 28th from 3:00pm @ Bettendorf High School – QC Dodgeball Tournament: Form a team to play dodgeball and compete against students from other area schools. The winning team will earn cash toward their school’s Student Hunger Drive total!

Tuesday, October 31st from 5:00-7:00pm in Bettendorf and 6:00-8:00pm in LeClaire – Trick-or-Treating for Cans: Instead of just trick or treating for cans, support the SHD by also asking your neighbors if they’d like to donate food to the Hunger Drive. Take a wagon to help you haul all that food! The food you collect can be brought to school the next morning.

Wednesday, November 8th – Last day for food and monetary donations: All collected food will be loaded up at the high school on November 9th and transported to the River Bend Foodbank, so final donations must be at PVHS by November 8th. The elementary schools and the junior high may have an earlier final collection date due to the need to transport their donations to the high school.

Pleasant Valley Junior High actors have been busy this school year. Less than a month after school began, students are putting on a play! Students auditioned in the spring and had the summer to prepare on their own. Rehearsals started the first day of school. You can see all their hard work on Saturday, September 23rd, at 7:00pm or on Sunday, September 24th, at 1:00pm. Both performances are in the Black Box Theatre at the High School.

Students are performing Oh, What a Tangled Web by John R. Carroll. On an impulse, a young girl makes up a story, and
the complications that result from it are extremely funny. Suddenly needing an excuse, the girl fumbles for a moment and then blurts out that there has been a death in the family. Actually, the only thing wrong in this family is that the cat is missing. In any case, people start coming over to express their concern and sympathy. The parents think they’re referring to the missing cat and the hilarious complications just continue to multiply!

The nearly 300 strong Pleasant Valley High School band put its program on the field for the first time, Wednesday, August 9, 2017. The powerful group enjoyed the beautiful weather as they worked hard to learn new music and new steps. Take a look at the pictures below and join them, Friday, August 11, 2017 at 8:00pm for the Sounds of the Stadium concert. You won’t want to miss the fun at Spartan Stadium.

We love to read. Books allow readers to travel back in time, to far away lands and to stretch the reader’s imaginations. During the school year students have a variety of resources, like peers, teachers and librarians to help find great book recommendations. What happens when they’re not around during the summer? Sometimes kids leave books behind for summer camps, vacations, different scheduled activities. Sometimes, kids just don’t know what to read. PV hopes the following ideas, links, and events will help you find more than one great book this summer.

LeClaire Library Summer Reading Program: Help the LeClaire Library Build a Better World! Early registration opens Monday May 22nd, but the first official day of our community-themed Summer Reading Program is June 5th. This program is for all ages – from babies to adults! In addition to the reading challenges, join us for a number of fun activities and programs throughout the summer. Check out for a full calendar of events.

Cody’s Summer Reading Challenge: Rocket, the school dog, wants to help you pick out the best books this summer. It’s our goal for Cody students to maintain the skills they acquired this year and truly develop into lifelong, lovers of books and reading! In order to avoid summer slide, Rocket would like to invite ALL Cody kids to join “Rocket’s Summer Reading Challenge 2017!” Cody teachers are hoping to help you pick out the best books for you. Find out how à Click here to learn about the program!

Hopewell’s Book on the Go: Go to http://bookonthego.weebly.com/ to check out 12 titles with different genres, for different ages (4th-7th grade students). Students chose these books because when they read them, they were strongly impacted by the messages from the story plots. This summer reading program will kick off on May 30th and run through the entire summer. The final day of this program is August 23. Read the books and vote for a favorite at the end of the summer! We need you! We are excited about this adventure and hope you will join us for this summer reading journey.

Pleasant Valley 4th Graders worked together for this year’s STEM Night. Teams from across the District competed in STEM-based challenges — including building a web out of plastic grocery bags strong enough to hold a student and building the highest tower with just 10 sheets of paper.

PV science teachers started STEM night last year to inspire 4th Grade students to work together as a team and solve problems creatively. Congratulations to Ezra Welch, Shaha Bhugra , Adam Dague, Aidan Schaapveld, Ivan Iverson, Muhammad Baig, Bennett Teitle, and Logan Gibbs, who scored the most points — but let’s be honest — the problem-solving skills learned make everyone winners.

Thank you to the volunteers who helped guide our students through their tasks!

The National Honor Society held its annual PV Palooza on April 1, 2017. Students spent their Saturday night playing dodgeball, basketball, listening to a live band, and dancing. This year, NHS raised $3,750 for the Vera French Foundation, which provides school based counseling services to all the PV schools.

PV 1st graders are celebrating the annual Booker Bear challenge. Every year, the Bettendorf Library Foundation asks students to read 10 books. Those who do it are honored at an event with pizza, a certificate and their own Booker Bear. Ascentra Credit Union has sponsored this event since 1999. Congratulations, students!

It all started with an idea. One student wanted to help other students learn about Digital Citizenship and now four students from Pleasant View are working on a podcast they hope will make an impact. “This I believe…” will focus on issues these students want to talk about. They all said they wanted to get involved because you hear podcasts from adults and teenagers, but you rarely get the perspective of younger kids. They’ve worked for a month or so on their scripts, researching and fine-tuning. We caught up with them as they taped for the first time. Check out the final product here –> http://bit.ly/2mTOtlG

Listen to the video below to hear the full story about how this group started.

The UNITE Club at Pleasant Valley High School takes on a tough mission: getting high school students to be nice to each other. There have been dozens of movies, books, and tv shows that feature the cliques and social system of a high school. It’s hard to get away from the stereotypes, but that’s exactly what UNITE Club hopes will happen. A group of about 20 students meet once week to figure out how to make the school as inclusive as possible. Each month, they address a different group of students with the hopes of getting all students to understand each other a bit better. They produce a video and ask students to wear a ribbon in support of each group. Right now, they’re working on a video about Religious Inclusion. We’ve included the videos they’ve produced already this year below.

Suicide Prevention

LGBTQ Awareness

Racial Diversity

SocioEconomic

Pleasant Valley did some real damage at the History Bowl tournament at Davenport Central on January 14, 2017. Not only did the varsity teams take first and second place, PV swept the History Bee portion of the tournament, which is an individual competition. Patrick McMonagle, Ike Sears and Collin Smith took the top honors. The JV team finished with a winning record, and Rece Vining finished in the top three!

On top of those honors, eight students qualified for the National History Bee and National Geography Olympiad.

Pleasant Valley Third Graders learned a little about computer coding in the first ever District-wide Hour of Code. Students spent the afternoon after December’s early release learning basic computer science. PVHS and PVJH students coached the third graders through lessons on code.org, either moving Moana’s boat to find fish or helping a Minecraft chicken roam. The students learn a simple process of thinking – choose a direction on a computer screen and make an animation move on another. The process gets more complex as students learn, in hopes of sparking a love of computer science in each child.

Thank you to Chris Cournoyer and Theresa Barber for organizing this first of what we hope is many Hours of Code for PV students. And a big thanks to the many volunteers who helped make this afternoon a success!

UPDATE: Pleasant Valley’s Drama Department will perform Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street at the International Thespian Festival in Lincolon, NE in June. The show was chosen from performances across the country! Congratulations!

Pleasant Valley High Schools Drama Department took the Iowa State Thespian Festival by storm. This year, PVHS’s production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street was chosen to be performed in front of all those who attended the Festival. And twitter lit up as students from across the state applauded PV’s cast and crew. Click here to see some of the nice things they had to say.

As if being chosen for a Main Stage production wasn’t enough, PV students’ additional performances at the Fest. The three improv teams swept the podium, First, Second and Third! Plus, Megan Maloney, Cassie Berta, Lauren Carroll and London Bicknell placed in the top three in various Individual Events qualifying them for the International Thespian Festival in June. And one more thing – Maaz Ahmed will be serving on the Iowa Thespian Chapter Board this year.

Congratulations to all of the band, choir and orchestra students who auditioned in October in Washington, Iowa. These musicians represent the top 1.5% of all Iowa musicians and will perform in the 600 member choir, 280 member band, and 200 member orchestra on November 19 at Iowa State University. Great job Spartans!

UPDATE: The Pleasant Valley Jazz Choirs ranked top in the state. Jazz Etc placed 3rd at the competition and Leading Tones placed 4th. Congratulations!

On March 29, PVHS will have not one, but two Jazz Choirs performing in the state competition. The members of Leading Tones and Jazz Etc are ready for the state stage and they’re looking to bring home some hardware. Pleasant Valley is just one of two schools who will have more than one choir participate, plus only 25 choirs from across Iowa advanced to the state competition. A big honor for two of our choirs!

Students performed their sets on Monday, March 21, for other choir students, but also some special guests. The vocal jazz ensemble from Southwest Community College in Creston, Iowa, along with their director Lucas Mattson, sat in the audience to provide some constructive feedback before the Spartans head to state.

Jazz Etc will perform at 5:20pm and Leading Tones at 6:20pm at Valley High

School in Des Moines on Tuesday, March 29. The Spartans travel well, so we know some of you will want to make the trip!